UN chief: Engagement key to resolving Turkish border crisis

The UN chief today appealed for dialogue to resolve fears of a Turkish offensive against Kurdish rebels based in Iraq, and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki pledged to work with his country’s neighbours to fight terrorism.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Iraqi leader were in Istanbul for an international meeting on Iraq’s future that has been overshadowed by the border tension, which escalated sharply over the last month amid a series of attacks by the rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.